Am I the only one streaming Sword Art Online on the entire internet?

"I will still fight alongside you, without a doubt, but from now on I will truly be a solo player. And like I said before, Yura, this team is now in your hands. Whatever you want to do, whether it's changing its name or relaxing the recruitment process, it's not my concern anymore."

“If that’s the case… I understand.” Yura nodded solemnly, then looked at the prompt that flashed in front of her, “I want to change the name of the guild… let’s call it the Order of Boros.”

Chapter 117, One Year Later (Bonus Chapter 19/75)

It was still evening, and Solin sat alone on his bed in his room. He opened his live stream, but set a password, so it wasn't open to everyone.

"Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Magic: The Gathering. I'm Zhu Ying." A familiar voice came from the other end of the live stream.

"I am Mo Yulan." Solin gave a perfunctory greeting, then opened the notebook beside him. "I just looked through the preview, and I feel like I can't wait to kill my way to the hundredth floor and get out. Karadesh can even be revisited..."

"Hey, you know what, that's what we all thought back then too. We were really disappointed that Teacher Mo couldn't come and play RTK on the fly. But speaking of which, how's your situation going, Teacher Mo?"

"Not even halfway there, it's the 48th floor. I suspect by the time I get out, the standard environment will be completely gone." Solin slammed his fist on the bed in frustration, his voice full of resentment, but his next sentence became extremely gentle, "Is dinner ready, Yuna?"

"It's done. If you're busy now, you can wait a bit." Yuna, wearing an apron, stood at the door, looking curiously into the house. "Shall I go eat first?"

“Go ahead, I’ll go practice your skills with you tonight.” Sorin gave a natural smile. “The view from the 22nd floor is pretty good. Kirito really found me a great place.”

"Hey, hey, Mr. Mo, we're recording a show here, don't be so lovey-dovey on set..." Zhu Ying hurriedly tried to stop Suo Lin's lovey-dovey behavior. "If you were going to use Japanese to show off your love, I wouldn't add subtitles, but you're using Chinese instead."

“If you want, I can switch to Greek and spare the innocent card players, just you,” Solin replied irritably. “Dude, I remember you came back from your master’s in 18 and didn’t have a girlfriend, and you still don’t. Your experience in England really has made you…”

"Stop, Teacher Mo, we're going a bit too fast." Zhu Ying's voice clearly had a mix of amusement and exasperation. "Then let's take a look at the superpowers that allow us to return to Caladesh this time."

"Okay, the first thing is the return of vehicle types and vehicles equipped with superpowers, which is not unexpected..."

------

In fact, a year had passed since Sorin's departure, when he handed Edelweiss (now it should be called Boros) to Yura. The entire SAO conquest process had also progressed to the forty-eighth floor.

Sorin's initial plan was to use the rumors surrounding PoH to retire and wait for the Rainbow Team to find Kayaba Akihiko's true form before launching an attack. However, a year has passed, and the Rainbow Team has made no progress.

It's not fair to say there's been no progress at all; the Rainbow Team has searched almost the entire Kanto region after their initial investigation. However, given the limited resources available, they can't do much more.

Of course, although he's supposedly taking a break and relaxing, Solin still needs to stream. His skills haven't declined; he remains at a top-tier level within the strategy team.

Of course, his brushes also changed to eleven in total, housed in a kaleidoscope. After some testing, he discovered that he could maximize his damage output with six weapons, so the remaining five weapons were all rather special items.

"I was just doing a radio show with a friend in real life, so I was a little late."

Sorin held Youna's hand as they walked along the mountain path. The forest, bathed in moonlight, appeared shadowy and indistinct. He planned to take Youna to the top of the hill to find a good spot to admire the mountain lake at night.

"Sorry, I think I disturbed you just now," Yuna whispered beside Sorin. "I didn't know..."

"It's okay, Yuna. You've just become the second uninvited guest on the funniest Magic: The Gathering community radio show in China." Sorin shook his head with a smile and quickly comforted her, "The last one was Kirito, but then again, it's not a very formal radio station, so it doesn't matter. Or maybe they'd prefer to listen to you than two rough guys like me and Teacher Zhu."

"So there's nothing to it." Yuna lifted her skirt and twirled twice on the wooden boardwalk, leaning forward before gently tapping Sorin's chin with her index finger. "If you have time, how about teaching me to play that game called Magic the Gathering?"

"Okay, I'll tell you about it when we get back, but if you want to play, you'll probably have to wait until we go out." Sorin is now somewhat immune to Yuna's flirtatious behavior. He smiled, took Yuna's hand away, and then picked her up in a princess carry, rubbing his silver hair against Yuna's cheek. "Let's go. I was thinking of going up the mountain to see the lake, but now I suddenly want to go directly to the lakeside."

"Okay, whatever you say." Yuna blushed slightly, gently closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around Sorin's neck, and rested her head on Sorin's shoulder. "The lakeside... the scenery there will be very beautiful."

Solin smiled but didn't say anything, only quickened his pace. His current attribute values ​​were high enough that he could carry Yuna for a long distance, but as it turned out, the saying "looking at a mountain makes you feel like you're running yourself ragged" was absolutely true.

He managed to drink two bottles of stamina potion along the way, and finally managed to carry Yuna all the way to the lakeside. This mountain lake was also a safe area, with fine sand covering the lakeside, and a bright moon slanted across the lake's surface, creating silvery light and ripples.

"Although I've seen it many times before, I still have to marvel at how realistic the water is every time." Sorin squatted by the lake and gently touched the surface of the water with his hand. "That kid Yura is a real genius."

"Yura? What's wrong with him?" Yuna asked, somewhat puzzled. She untied the straps of her sandals, placed them on the sand, and, holding her skirt in one hand, walked barefoot into the water.

“No, Yura is a good person, it’s nothing.” Sorin turned his head away and sighed, thinking to himself that he almost let it slip.

"Sorin~ Look over here~" Yuna's voice suddenly came from beside him. Sorin looked over and was splashed with water, followed by Yuna's melodious and innocent laughter.

Solin didn't say anything; in his heart, as long as Yuna had fun, that was all that mattered. He casually splashed some water towards Yuna.

"Ah!" Yuna exclaimed, then lifted her skirt and walked out of the water again. "I'm not playing anymore, I'm not playing anymore."

“I didn’t resist in a particularly violent way either…” Solin shook his head. He suddenly looked into the distance and saw a white shadow in the woods not far away.

"what is that?"

Chapter 118: The White Ghost Traveling Through the Mountains (Bonus Chapter 20/75)

"Solin? What did you see?" Yuna walked over to Solin with some confusion, picked up her strappy sandals, and looked in the direction Solin was pointing. "Wait, Solin, isn't that a person?"

"Maybe~ I heard Kirito mention this rumor before, about ghosts wandering through the mountains and forests..." Sorin said deliberately in a particularly scientific tone, "Maybe that ghost will drift this way in a little while... drift right next to you and give you a fright?"

"Ugh!" Yuna made a strange sound, then shrank into Sorin's arms. "Don't scare me... I... I'm scared."

“I won’t scare you anymore, but I guess I really should take a look. After all, it’s not just a rumor.” Sorin suddenly became serious. He waited for Yuna to put her strappy sandals back on, then drew the katana from his back. “The white ghost wandering in the mountains—there are quite a few eyewitnesses to that. And I suspect it’s not a ghost at all.”

"Not a ghost? You mean..." Yuna asked hesitantly, drawing her rapier as well, "Then it might be a monster?"

"Who knows, it might be a hidden quest or something," Solin explained briefly. "Let's activate the Sprint buff and go check it out."

"Hmm." Yuna nodded, took out the flute from her waist and played a short melody, feeling her feet become much lighter. "Although I'm still scared, I'm not scared because Sorin is here."

Sorin suddenly realized that he and Yuna shared a common trait: they both loved planting flags. Over the past year, they had said things like, "We'll get engaged after we get out of here," or "After I beat this boss, I'm going to clear a level," more than a hundred times, but thankfully, nothing bad had happened yet. Yuna's recent words suddenly reminded him of a certain young girl from the Uesugi family.

"Your flag has suddenly made me chicken out," he said casually, then marked a spot in his field of vision and strode off. Yuna followed closely behind him, but because Yuna had a higher agility stat, she was actually a bit faster than Sorin.

"Turn on the detection mode; I can't see very well tonight."

Solin suddenly gave a heads-up on the way, saying that the white shadow disappeared when it saw the two of them rapidly approaching, so now the two of them would have to rely on something like radar.

"I understand... It's over here!" Yuna nodded, activating her target acquisition skill. She saw a blue trail stretching into the distance. "The target isn't a player; it's being lured towards the trail..."

“Actually, I always want to complain about whether this blue trace is a sign of an Elder Dragon.” Sorin lowered his body and slowly moved in that direction. “Be careful of hiding, watch out for possible attacks… You should put on your equipment, Yuna.”

"When did you change into your gear? Wait, is anyone watching?" Yuna blushed from her face to her neck upon hearing his words. "Sorin, could you turn around for a moment?"

"Hmm...not good." Solin chuckled, showing no intention of turning around. "I need to keep an eye on your back. What if something suddenly attacks?"

"This is a safe zone... why is something attacking us..." Yuna murmured twice, then clicked the [Unequip All] button, and her beautiful body, wearing only pure white underwear, was suddenly exposed in Sorin's eyes. Three seconds later, it changed into white and blue leather armor in the shape of [Blue and White Porcelain].

"What's there to be afraid of? It's not like we haven't seen it before." Solin waved his hand helplessly, then turned around and glanced at the traces that Youna had shared with him. "The target has stopped. There might be an ambush."

As he spoke, he took out a large tower shield from the kaleidoscope, a weapon completely unlike his usual fighting style. He then pressed a button on the shield, causing it to instantly enlarge and cover his entire body.

“Don’t worry, just stand behind me.” He said, mimicking the tone of a Frenchman. “My Greatshield has over 1000 hours of experience, nothing will happen.”

"Even though I don't understand it, it sounds really impressive." Yuna shook her head. She had gotten used to Sorin saying strange things from time to time these days, even when he wasn't streaming. "Ambushes and stuff... is that really possible?"

"You won't say that after you've seen Voldemort in a ghillie suit lying on the ground in a wooded hill, pointing a gun at you," Thorin advised earnestly. "Although this is a game with only melee weapons, ninjas do exist. Who knows when they'll jump out from the main area, stab you, and then capsize your treasure ship and give you a good laugh."

“…I don’t understand.” Yuna shook her head, then looked at the traces which suddenly stopped at a certain point. “Wait, Sorin, the traces have disappeared.”

“Yeah, I saw the person, and you’re telling me the traces disappeared.” Sorin waved to Yuna, then squatted down on the ground. “Wait a minute, Yuna, the blue traces are from non-players, right?”

“That’s right, blue marks are for non-players, green marks are for players… What?” Yuna had just responded to Sorin when she saw a little girl in a white dress lying on the ground in front of Sorin. “Impossible!”

“We can rule out the possibility of her being a player. After all, this game is rated R15. I already found it strange that someone like Kirito entered at the age of fourteen. This child looks to be at most eight years old.” Sorin stood up and examined the mysterious girl. “And the most important point is that there is no cursor above her head that represents a player. There isn’t one of any color.”

"So this is an NPC?" Yuna bent down and picked up the mysterious girl. "Sorin, why don't we take her back first?"

"I think it's a good idea. Maybe when she wakes up, a question mark will appear above her head, giving us a hidden quest that can be completed to clear the game." Solin joked casually, then reached out to Yuna, "Let me do it, your strength is too low."

"Hmm...no good." Yuna retorted in the same way as Sorin before, "Who knows what might happen if I throw it at you."

"I'm amazed that you're jealous of such a big kid," Suolin said, both amused and exasperated. "Alright, alright, just let me know if your stamina bar is empty later, and I'll wait for you."

119. Aiweixin?

Half an hour later.

"As I said before, we can basically rule out the possibility that this girl is a player, but even if she is an NPC, there should at least be a cursor."

Suolin sat on the edge of the bed, watching the girl lying on the bed with great interest, pondering deeply.

“I think we’ll have more information when she wakes up, but right now… we know nothing.” Yuna’s eyes were full of affection as she looked at the girl. She wasn’t thinking as much as Sorin. “She’s so young, she’ll probably need a lot of care, but can we really find the time to take care of her?”

“That’s true. Besides, I haven’t had experience with kids this big in a long time. The last time was when I was a sophomore in college, tutoring middle school kids as a part-time job.” Solin paused for a moment, then replied, “You go to sleep first. I need to study the deck list. I feel like Resonance is about to take off again.”

"Then you go ahead with your work, I'm going to sleep now." Yuna stretched, removed her equipment, lay down on her side next to the little girl, and gently closed her eyes. Meanwhile, Suolin had been scribbling and drawing in his notebook for a while, copying two card lists. Seeing that Yuna seemed to have fallen asleep, he opened the in-game message page of his live stream.

He had no intention of contacting anyone; he was simply looking at a message Grace had sent him six months ago.

[Dokkaebi: We've figured out why our investigation in Japan was blocked. According to CIA intelligence, Kayaba Akihiko possesses an AI equipped with the Cardinal System, the kind that can pass the Turing test.]

[Dokkaebi: If possible, try to separate the Cardinal System in SAO; this is very important to us. If it's too difficult, trying to separate one of the Cardinal System's AIs would also be acceptable.]

[Dokkaebi: This is just an extra task. Now that you've figured out Kayaba Akihiko's true identity, you don't have much to do, so I'm giving you some other work.]

“…The Cardinal System? An AI that can pass the Turing test can already be considered artificial intelligence, right? I didn’t expect Kayaba Akihiko to be able to do this.” Sorin muttered to himself, then turned his gaze to the mysterious girl lying obediently on the bed, and shook his head. “The problem is that Kayaba, even his ID uses his surname. If there really is an AI or artificial intelligence, it should be like Kahn, not such a soft little girl.”

He began to scrutinize the little girl again. Her hair was the same brilliant silver as Solin's, and her eyes remained closed, so Solin didn't know what color they were. However, after a while, he noticed two rather large openings at the collarbone of the mysterious girl's dress; their purpose remained unclear.

"Let's leave this issue for tomorrow. Let's write down the restricted match ratings first, and then we'll be opening pre-sales in two weeks..."

------

In the end, Solin fell asleep on the table. He stayed up all night to finish writing the single card ratings for the Return to Caladesh Limited series, then sent the 4000-word article to Zhu Ying. Finally, seeing that there was no room for him on the bed, he simply fell asleep on the table.

The next morning, the intro to "New Treasure Island" rang in Sorin's ears. It was the alarm he had set, because he was convinced that the familiar melody would instantly make him jerk off the bed. However, after he turned off the alarm, he suddenly heard another small voice humming the melody of "New Treasure Island" in his ear.

"...?" Sorin turned around in confusion and found that the girl who had been sleeping all night was now standing behind him, softly humming the tune of Shin Takarajima's "Long Time No See".

"You're awake?" Sorin asked in a gentle, coaxing tone, "Do you know what happened to you?"

The girl silently shook her head, looking at Sorin with a bewildered, innocent gaze, without uttering a word. At that moment, Yuna, hearing Sorin's voice, also woke up. She dressed, got out of bed, and stood beside the mysterious girl.

"And what's your name? Do you remember your name?" This was Yuna's question. She crouched down slightly, making herself look the girl in the eye.

"...Name? My...name..."

This was the first time Sorin and Yuna had heard the mysterious girl's voice. She spoke haltingly, like a child who had just learned to speak, but her voice was very clear, giving Yuna a feeling of healing.

"A...Avacyn...my...name." The mysterious girl seemed to have been thinking for a long time before she remembered her name, and she said it in a halting manner.

Upon hearing the name Ivy, Suolin finally understood the purpose of the two strange openings on the back of her dress. He couldn't help but cover his forehead, his tone tinged with helplessness.

"Sorin? What's wrong?" Yuna looked at Sorin in confusion and asked.

"Is it some kind of perverse sense of humor... I'm afraid I might not be able to resist taking action against the Mourning Return to the Ruins." Sorin made a joke that Yuna didn't know about, then stood up and looked at the girl behind him who called herself Ivyxin, "Okay, I'm Sorin, and this big sister is Yuna."